Browsed by
Author: Sheridan

Sheridan is the owner of Remind My Life Ptd Ltd and creator of Remind My Life APP and lifestyle guide. Her qualifications include a Bachelor of Nursing and Master Personal Trainer at the Australian Institute of Fitness. She has 20 years experience as a health professional. Sheridan is innovative, mindful, resourceful and creative and has dedicated her professional life to making a difference to others. Through her experience she has developed ways to be mindful, efficient and balanced and is passionate about sharing her ideas and supporting others to live a harmonious life with more awareness around where time is spent, better health and mindfulness. Sheridan created Remind my life to encourage you to stop and take action to create a lifestyle you will love. By using the remindmylife app and colour codes as a guide (green for success, orange for ok and red for needs your attention), you can balance your time in blocks of time with your health in mind. You will be able to create time for yourself with your new found awareness and structure your day by using the friendly reminders that simplify life into 6 areas (Work, Exercise, Food, Sleep, Meditation and Free) enabling you to focus on what is important to you and to look after yourself. She is currently studying to be a meditation teacher and you will notice a pivot and inclusion of further digital products with the addition of our Shop called RML -Relaxed Mindful Living.
Sleep

Sleep

How to Find Time to Sleep

The Sleep Health Foundation recommends that adults get between 7 and 9 hours of sleep every night. Before you scoff at the amount of hours that you could otherwise be spending working or being productive, remember that you can’t have a fully functioning mind if it’s exhausted from lack of sleep.

Our relationship with sleep is very closely associated with our relationship with time. Those who are busier among us may choose to lose a few hours of sleep in favour of an hour at the gym in the morning or time spent working from home into the wee hours of the night. Contrary to your own belief that you’re winning and checking things off the to-do list, you’re actually just robbing yourself of the time you need to recharge and refresh your mind. Sleeping helps reboot you and keeps you more focused and creative. It’s important to prioritise sleep because taking care of yourself helps you stay connected to the essence of who you are and lead a more balanced lifestyle.

Why You Need to Prioritise Sleep

Many people decide what time they’ll go to bed and wake up based on their many tasks each day. Sleep time is what’s leftover. Making this lifestyle a habit can lead to chronic sleep deprivation, poor concentration, mistakes, fatigue and all of the risks associated with chronic sleep loss.

Tips for Making Time for Sleep

Keep your energy levels and mental capacity up by making time to sleep. Here are some tips for the more sleep-deprived and anxious souls among us.

Manage your time better

If you’re the type who stays up until 2 in the morning to get your work done, it’s more likely the effect of poor time management skills. Try to reschedule so that you’re working in the earlier hours of the morning.

Set a bedtime and wake-up time

Don’t just go to bed whenever you feel like it. You need to discipline yourself to resist urges like another episode of suits or game of thrones, as they will then cause you to push your day later and later into the night. Meditation can help you resist impulses http://blog.remindmylife.com/. If you have trouble falling asleep, select a bedtime that is consistent with the times you’re likely to sleep well. Go to sleep when you feel sleepy and get up at a time that you don’t necessarily need an alarm clock, as long as you are meeting your responsibilities.

Get a handle on stress

A build-up of mental trash can stay on your mind as you try to drift off. Writing it down can help remove those thoughts from your mind. And again, meditation can help you take the trash out so that you can learn to relax your mind and fall asleep.

Consider ditching caffeine

If you need that one cup in the morning to become a human, that’s fine. However, if you can’t sleep on caffeine, avoid it. It will only serve to continue the underlying problem.

Be more productive

Boosting your productivity and finding ways to do less work, smarter will give you more time to sleep and less time stressing over the work you brought home with you.

Set no-work hours

Give yourself a few hours at the end of each day where you aren’t allowed to work. This will help calm you before bed, and it will also force you to wake up early to get tasks finished.

The Effects of Not Getting Enough Sleep

A lack of sleep not only makes you grumpy, foggy and lethargic, it also effects your sex life, memory and overall health. Here are some of the possible effects from sleep deprivation:

Increases the chance of accidents

Sleep deprivation has been responsible for many well-known disasters throughout the years, including Exxon Valdez oil spill, the nuclear accident at Three Mile Island in 1979 – as well as the infamous nuclear meltdown in Chernobyl.

It’s also a dangerous public hazard on our roads. Drowsiness slows down reaction time much like drunkenness does, increasing the chance of having a fatal car accident.

Impact on cognitive processes

Not getting enough sleep can make you dumb. That’s right, getting sufficient sleep means your general ability to think will increase in addition to your ability to learn and recall new information.

A lack of sleep means you won’t be able to remember all of the information acquired throughout your day once you do finally lay down. Your alertness and attention are also impaired, which can create behavioural problems and mood swings.

Physical health problems

Those suffering from insomnia or other sleep related problems frequently report other physical issues which can be associated with lack of sleep.

Some of these include:

Heart disease
Irregular heart beat
High blood pressure
Heart failure
Stroke, and
Diabetes

Another physical problem that can occur with lack of sleep is a decrease in libido. When your body is not sufficiently rested, you are likely to have less interest in sex. A study published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism in 2002 suggests that many men with sleep apnoea also have low testosterone levels.

Need some help balancing your life and finding time to sleep? Download the RemindMyLife App today! Balance your time with health in mind.

Warmest Regards

Sheridan

All the information on our website is free, so we welcome Donations to cover the administration and running costs. Thank you, we really appreciate all of your love, support and encouragement to continue.

Making time to Meditate….

Making time to Meditate….

Making Time to Meditate

You don’t have time to meditate, you tell yourself as you needlessly scroll through Instagram for the 12th time. Let’s face it, as much as we’d like to be improved, fully functioning humans, we don’t always want to put in the time. Something like meditation that requires a lot of focus and brainpower more often than not gets pushed to the back of our minds, especially when you have to worry about work, family, friends, fitness, eating right and every other little worry that the modern world pushes on you.

However, what if we told you that all you needed was a few minutes a day, let’s start with ten, in order to be able to meditate and be mindful? That’s doable, isn’t it? It will take a bit of prioritising and discipline, but once you get started, you can find a holistic approach to all aspects of your day-to-day, leading to a balanced and healthy lifestyle.

Why Should You Meditate?

Meditation is not just about relieving stress and refreshing yourself in those ten blissful moments of mind blankness. Practicing mindfulness will help in all aspects of your life, from helping you settle into the moment to helping you cope in a world that overloads and overwhelms you with communication and information. It makes you more productive by increasing your capacity to resist distracting urges, and research even shows that meditation improves your relationships, increases your dependability and raises your performance.

Being able to focus your mind and stay in the present moment can seem like kind of a superpower. Without training your brain to achieve true mindfulness, your mind ends up lost in thought. Not many people realise that they are always thinking without knowing they’re thinking. Thought is incredibly important; we use it to do everything from performing heart surgery to carrying on a conversation. However, most of us spend every moment of our lives in a sort of autopilot thought process that distorts our lives and emotions and engineers our unhappiness. After all, most of what we think as our minds wander is rather unpleasant. Meditation can give you more control, cutting through negative thoughts and self-doubt that arise without our permission.

Tips for Beginner Meditation Practices

If you are trying to make a commitment to mindfulness, here are a few tips to get you started:

Start Early and Prioritise

Try meditating first thing in the morning if possible to start the day with a fresh slate. If mornings aren’t your thing, make sure to prioritise meditation and pick a time every day. Try to do it the same time and same place every day, as this will establish a routine and make the practice familiar to you.

Set Reminders

Either set reminders on your calendar or download a helpful app like RemindMyLife that creates conscious awareness in every moment by setting helpful reminders that will keep you focused.

Be Patient and Non-Judgemental

Many people who just start out tend to be a bit hard on themselves. Remember, there is no such thing as ‘good’ or ‘bad’ meditation. The long term goal is most important, so be patient with yourself and your progress, and learn to forgive yourself.

Assess Yourself After Each Session

Take a mental note of how you feel physically, emotionally and mentally after each session. Once you establish a connection between feeling good and meditation, you’ll have a much easier time finding time to practice.

Find the time to meditate and balance your life with the RemindMyLife app!

Create structure around time and live a healthy lifestyle.

Making Exercise a Part of Your Routine!

Making Exercise a Part of Your Routine!

Making Exercise a Part of Your Routine

It’s one thing to know that exercising every day is important in maintaining health, wellness, emotional stability and a killer bod. It’s quite another thing to implement this knowledge into our busy daily schedules, especially if you have a demanding job.

Finding time to work out shouldn’t stress you out. All it takes is a bit of discipline and you can be on your way to creating a healthy, structured lifestyle that gives you time to have it all—work, family, free time, meditation, plenty of sleep and a healthy diet.

How Much Time Do I Need to Spend Exercising?

Ok, so you’re already wracking your brain trying to think of when you can squeeze in some exercise. How much time do you need? Ideally, adults aged 18 to 64 should do about 45 minutes of exercise each day. That’s not too difficult.

According to data from the World Health Organisation (WHO), you’re looking at:

150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic physical activity throughout the week
75 minutes of vigorous-intensity aerobic physical activity throughout the week
Or a combination of moderate and vigorous-intensive physical activity.
Muscle-strengthening activities should involve all major muscle groups and done on one or more days a week

How to Incorporate Exercise into Your Routine

If you’re dedicated to making a commitment to caring for your body and mind, here are a few tips to help you incorporate exercise into your daily routine.

Find Something You Like

Not everyone likes going to the gym, running on a machine and lifting things up and putting them down. Some people do. If you already know what you don’t like, it’s important to find exercises that you do like, as long as it fits your lifestyle, personality and taste. Try experimenting with different forms of exercise until you find something that suits you. Perhaps you prefer Pilates, rock climbing or Samba. Maybe it’s all three. If you enjoy the exercise, you’ll make time for it.

Find a Buddy

When you have a workout buddy, not only do you have someone to enjoy these activities with, but you also have someone to keep you in line if you get lazy. In addition, having someone to work out with can give you a little competition and it can combine social and leisure time with exercise time.

Temptation Bundling

A lot of people are learning the beauty of temptation bundling, which is a simple way to boost your willpower in many situations. Do you have a guilty pleasure? Love watching Home and Away? Tell yourself you can only watch your favourite program or listen to your audiobook or podcast when you’re exercising. That way, you’ll get through the workout faster and you’ll look forward to it.

Make a Schedule and Stick to It

Working out is a priority worth keeping, not only for your health, but also for your own sanity. Don’t let work or anything sort of an emergency keep you from making that date with yourself.

Track Your Activity Levels

By writing down what you achieved with each workout session or tracking how long you are exercising for, you can keep track of your improvements, notice when you slip and generally monitor your progress and stay motivated.

Choose Something over Nothing

If you really can’t make that 45 minute session once a day, don’t skip exercising all together. Do something over nothing. Break it up into 10-15 minutes three times a day, take the stairs. There is plenty of quick workouts you can do that will help you stick to your routine and stay in the fitness mindset.

Finding time to exercise is all about creating structure and balance around your time. Create a balanced lifestyle in all areas with the RemindMyLife app and don’t forget to pat yourself on the back every time you do something for yourself.

Work-Life balance!

Work-Life balance!

Managing Your Time for a Better Work-Life Balance

Are you feeling the demands of your job in your daily life? You’re not alone. Many people find it incredibly difficult to balance their work with their lifestyle for many reasons. Whether you’re a workaholic or worried about layoffs and cutbacks, you can have control over the other aspects in your life. You have control over the ways you bring enjoyment to your life and how much time you choose to spend worrying about work.

In order to lead a balanced life, you should work less than 8.5 hours. Evidence suggests that long work hours may impair personal health, jeopardise safety and increase stress. While a shorter workday may not be possible for everyone, there are some ways that you can add balance to your life.

Review how you use your time now

Track yourself one week and see how you spend time in all tasks and activity areas, even personal time. Do you see any room for improvement? Are there tasks that you could delegate to someone else?

Work more efficiently

Most of us spend plenty of precious hours a day procrastinating and not spending our time wisely. It’s hard to focus on the task at hand, especially when there are so many distractions and other tasks to accomplish. However, if you are more efficient with your time at work, then you’re more likely to be out of there by 5 and on your way to yoga or happy hour! Here are a few tips to help you get more work done faster:
Create a to-do list, prioritising accordingly, and stick to it.
Create a detailed timeline with specific deadlines.
If an idea occurs to you as you’re working, write it down on a piece of paper and come back to it later. Don’t get caught surfing the web because you just need to know what ingredients to pick up for a coconut curry.
Break up your tasks into smaller tasks and complete them in 20 to 30 minute chunks.
Take plenty of breaks.
Create a detailed timeline with specific deadlines.
Change your environment. Does your work station make you want to do work, or go to sleep? If it’s the latter, change it up. But continue to change it up every few months to keep it fresh.
Eliminate procrastination temptations. Keep off social media and YouTube! Have some discipline.

Schedule in downtime

As you plan your week, make sure to schedule in time for yourself and time spent with family and friends. Join a netball league with your friends, or schedule a date night with your spouse. Have things to look forward to that you won’t want to cancel for work. It’s also a good idea to have some downtime in the morning before you head to work. Whether that’s time to spend making a delicious breakfast, meditating, exercising or just reading, take the time to wake up and centre yourself before you head off to work.

Balance your work life with the rest of your life by structuring your time in a healthy way. Tap and track what you are doing now by downloading the RemindMyLife app. Awareness is key to creating a balanced life.

Idea’s for a desirable lifestyle…. waking up!

Idea’s for a desirable lifestyle…. waking up!

Ideas come and go and I find if I don’t write them down I often forget what those ideas were. So… in November 2014 after a long time of soul searching and reflecting on my years of nursing. I woke up and started creating… RemindMyLife ???


I knew that i wanted to make a difference and this was what came to me. I had been working as a nurse for years now. Checking people for lifestyle risks such as type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, depression, strokes, obesity, alcoholism to name a few. And there was always something missing after people left my room and after doing their assessment and giving them the advise they needed. I was like they have no way to keep track of themselves, I felt like they needed a tool to monitor how much time they are dedicating to themselves and their health. My piece of paper and time table wasn’t enough. I wanted to make a card board cutout, a tool they can use to manage their time. But then I was like ‘we don’t live in card board cut out world anymore’ i felt like they needed an app. So through a lot of hard work?, sweat, tears?, speed bumps and road blocks and self blocks!! I can finally say I have finally pushed the go ✅ button and sent my application live to the world ?. Ive created a mindful lifestyle tool you can use to tap and track your time. Plan and live your desired life. It is now available to download on iTunes (please see link below)! I would like to thank all my friends, family, co-works and everyone who has ever supported me! Without your love ❤️ and support I don’t know if I would of had the drive to complete this! But it’s done!!!! So thank you so much! I feel like it is just beginning as I continue to develop the RemindMyLife application to make a difference. So if you have a great idea like mine, don’t forget to write it down. ? I will continue to blog about the areas of life, food, exercise, sleep, meditation, free time, work and share resources with you. I will also share how I created the Remindmylife application and what I learnt along the way.

Sheridan
Creator of Remindmylife application
Download by visiting

www.remindmylife.com